PHI was incorporated as a holding company in February 2001 for the purpose of effecting the acquisition of Conectiv Power Delivery. The acquisition was completed on August 1, 2002 at which time Pepco and Conectiv became wholly owned subsidiaries of PHI. Conectiv itself had been formed in 1998 to be the holding company of Delmarva Power & Light Company and Atlantic City Electric Company. In 2005, PHI resumed the use of the DPL and ACE entity names for purposes of operations, with the name Conectiv Energy restricted for PHI's energy production facilities.

Pepco is engaged in the transmission, distribution and default supply of electricity in Washington, D.C. and major portions of Prince George’s County and Montgomery County in suburban Maryland. Pepco’s service territory covers approximately 640 square miles and has a population of approximately 2.1 million. As of December 31, 2008, Pepco delivered electricity to 767,000 customers (of which 247,000 were located in the District of Columbia and 520,000 were located in Maryland).[1]

PHI ranked 254 on the 2009 Fortune 1000, a list of American companies ranked by gross revenue. Their revenues were $10.7 million. [2]

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council

ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our PRWatch.org site.

Existing Coal Plants

PHI subsidiary Conectiv Energy has 19 electric generating stations. Most run on gas, but the following run on coal:[4]

Tax breaks and subsidies

A 2011 analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, "Corporate Taxpayers & Corporate Tax Dodgers: 2008-10" found dozens of companies, including fossil fuels, used tax breaks and various tax dodging methods to have a negative tax balance between 2008 and 2010, while making billions in profits. The study found 32 companies in the fossil-fuel industry -- such as Peabody Energy, ConEd, and PG&E -- transformed a tax responsibility of $17.3 billion on $49.4 billion in pretax profits into a tax benefit of $6.5 billion, for a net gain of $24 billion.[5]

Pepco had the highest negative tax rate of the 280 companies surveyed in the 2011 report, with negative taxes of $508 million on $882 million pretax profits, a negative tax rate of 57 percent.[6]

In December 2011, the organization Public Campaign published a report called "For Hire: Lobbyists or the 99%?" on corporations that have paid more on lobbying than on federal taxes. Pepco ranked sixth (see chart).[7] From 2008 to 2010, Pepco owed $816 million in federal taxes but had tax subsidies of $816.7 million (with two subsidiaries in tax havens), so that the company claimed $508 million from the U.S. Treasury, while spending $3.8 million over the same period lobbying.[8]